WebEngage to take on Adobe and Salesforce with its marketing automation product

MUMBAI:Software product startup WebEngage is betting on its new marketing automation software product, currently being piloted at ecommerce giant Flipkart, to take on Adobe and Salesforce and boost its reach in the lucrative US midmarket.

The Mumbai-based startup, which is on track to post $10 million in annualised revenue this year, expects to launch 'Journey Designer' next month and hopes to lure mid-sized enterprises away from the larger marketing solutions firm.

"The largest enterprises have typically solved their problems. But mid-sized enterprises — those with $10-$50 million in revenue a year — are typically underserved. We will be cheaper than Adobe or Salesforce," Avlesh Singh, cofounder of WebEngage, told ET. Adobe and Salesforce both have marketing clouds that are used by large companies.

Singh said the company had been building Journey Designer for the last nine months and was currently running two dozen pilots, the largest of which is with Flipkart.

The product allows companies to automate the sending of emails and in-app push notifications to visitors who use their application or website based on pre-determined attributes. WebEngage has raised money from Blume Ventures, GTI Capital and Google India head Rajan Anandan. Cloud solutions provider Capillary Technologies also took a minority stake in the company earlier this year.

The new product and a greater push to sell in the US and Europe will also lower the company’s dependence on the India market.

"About 35 per cent of our revenue comes from India. That’s because of our initial penetration with all the large players. But the market here is not very large. So we think India’s share will come down about 15 per cent of revenue in the next year," Singh said.

He added that the company is targeting to receive 75 per cent of its revenue from the US and Europe, up from about 40 per cent currently.

WebEngage is Singh’s second startup. Along with WebEngage cofounder Ankit Utreja, he left restaurant review site Burrp in 2011 to start the multi-channel user engagement platform. And having built both consumer-focused and enterprise-focused startups, he is very clear which he prefers.

"We worked so hard on Burrp and got so little in return. In an enterprise startup, I can see myself creating value. I don’t have to depend on an investor for money. I have sources of cash," Singh said.